Fun mailbox monday- first giveaway!!!

My mail was full of good stuff today! I was excited to get some freebies. I got a 6oz bag of Purina Beneful dog food from Walmart- we don't have a dog but the kids love taking dog food to Topeka and feeding Grandpa and Grandma's dogs when we go!

I got my Santa card for Kiah today in the mail. I posted this freebie on my facebook wall, not sure if it is still available. I LOVE tinyprints and once again they didn't let me down. Still trying to figure out when Kiah should get this I was thinking maybe the Sunday after Thanksgiving.. (if I don't lose it before then!)

Also got a Woman's Day magazine in the mail somehow I have a free subscription until April 2013! Nice

I got a coupon for a free can of cat food which I need since a cat has adopted us to be it's feeding family. I used to have like five bags of samples for cats but he's ate all of those so I may actually have to break down and buy my own bag.

I also got 2 $5.00 coupons for Enfagrow toddler formula. I will try selling these on ebay never have tried selling the toddler kind I'll get back to you on how well I do. I always start them at a penny and then have shipping at 44 cents to cover my stamp only once has something gone for the penny.

OK NOW for the giveaway. I'm gonna go with five winners and each person can have UP TO 3 coupons. Often companies send me a great value coupon and then several a bit lower value coupons to pass out and I've been slacking so here is the giveaway. Open for 24 hours, I will just take the responses as I get them- if I get any... we shall see. Here are your choices

I have FIVE 50 cents off one package of Glad OdorShield with Febreze Freshness trash bags, vocalpoint sent me a sample bag I never thought I'd say a trash bag smell great! but they do

just remember if you use these at Dillons they double so it would really be like a dollar off. got them from vocal point in a cute little trash can container

I have TWO 55 cents off One 64 oz bottle or One 8 pack of 6.75 oz juice boxes of any flavor Mott's for Tots. Also vocal point the kids got a juice box in the mail. They thought that was pretty good, they have 40% less sugar and I could tell but the kids both loved it! May have been cuz it was free and in the mail?? also from vocal point

Ok I have THREE $1.00 off any Fresh Express Bagged Salad also from vocal point. I got this with a free bag clipper and a free coupon for me.

Lastly since I don't have a dog my dog food came with three coupons they are all different so let me know if you want 1, 2 or # 3

#1 Buy one bag purina beneful dog food any size get one 10 oz bag free

#2 Save $2.00 on any one bag of Purina Beneful Dog food (just a tip when you have coupons buy the smallest size you will get more bang for your coupon!!)

#3 Save $1.50 on any package of Purina Beneful Snackin Slices dog snacks. any size

there ya have it. I will contact winners and then ask for you mailing address.

Hope and the ultimate freebie

This update is a bit different than the ones I have written in the last week, but one I feel I need to write. Yesterday an old friend of mine decided to take his own life and it has hit me very hard because of some of the conversations I was able to have with him at least ten years ago. He was looking for hope all those years back and I just feel he was still looking for hope until yesterday when he decided he didn't have anymore. It makes my heart hurt, I hurt for his family, I hurt for his kids, and I hurt for him in those final moments. I just can't imagine having no hope or feeling so very very alone. Unable to sleep last night I thought a lot about my hope and where it comes from so this morning I felt I had to read one of my favorite passages in the Bible Psalms 139:1-18

"O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up, you know my every thought when far away.

You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am.

You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!

I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night-

but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- and how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!

I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand, And when I wake up in the morning you are still with me."

And this is when I understood why I am able to have hope- why I don't feel alone. I've been given the ultimate freebie ever a relationship with Jesus Christ. This wasn't something I deserved, it doesn't make me better than anyone, it shows that I am a SINNER (All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23) But the same God who loved me in these verses in Psalms is the same God that sent His son to earth to die on a cross for all the ugly things I have done. (For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him will not parish but have everlasting life. John 3 16) All I had to do was "sign up" so to speak in my freebies terminology - admit my sin and admit my need for a savior without Christ I am nothing. (For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift from God not of works so that no one can boast Eph 2:8-9) . The Christian life isn't easy it's hard, and it doesn't make you rich, or healthy. But when you are poor you can see God's hand and when you are sick you can see God's hand and when you are alone.....and when you feel alone...... You know that God is watching over you, God is walking with you, He's been there with you since you were in your momma's tummy how amazing is that. And He CARES about us, no matter how messed up we are. But He's not a God who is going to push and shove His way in, nope He is polite and stands and the door of your heart and knocks. He gives me hope in the hard time, and He gives me hope of a future. And no matter how many good freebies come in the mail nothing can beat that. I just wish that my friend would have seen this, I pray that God's peace will be on his family and his kids as they deal with this loss.

score samples if you are pregnant or have a new baby

Well today my sample was free shampoo (told you I'll never have to buy it again!) It was Garnier Fructis Anti-Dandruff shampoo, the little pack has about 2-3 usages in it. Anyways as I was walking to get my mail a friend stopped me because she had gotten a can of formula in the mail today and that is what got me thinking about my topic for today. Freebies for new moms
Here is a website to check out https://www.babiesonline.com/offers/ skim through them but the highlights at least to me are the two free magazine subscriptions. I LOOOOVE these two magazines they are short and informative exactly what a mom needs. I am now trying to clip out any breast-feeding articles any of them have but since Karis is one I no longer get them! But they usually had some very good articles plus some coupons sometimes. The other two that I would sign up for are the Pampers and Huggies sites. They want you to buy their product so they will send some high value coupons. The gerber one is good too. They send you formula "checks" (coupons) which I have sold on ebay before and probably made about 40bucks doing that this last year. And if you think you are going to formula feed you can check the enfamil one- or check it anyways you get a cute bag. I always saved all the formula I got and put it in a spot in case I died. I know that sounds silly but I wanted to make sure if I passed away and my breast-feeding infant was left with just their daddy he would be able to find at least a months worth of formula in the house.

Products I never have to buy

I never have to buy toothpaste, deodorant or shampoo (and conditioner) These are some of the most widely out their freebies I get them ALL the time. Today I got a "sample" of Degree deodorant-these samples last 2 to 3 months. And that is about how often the deals come up. They also sent a $1.00 coupon just in case I would NEED to purchase. These are also good if you don't use them yourself to throw into Operation Christmas child boxes, and donate to homeless shelters. Here is a CREST sample for you all. It comes to you from a site http://www.frugalfritzie.com , the main reason I follow her site is she lets you know the weekly Dillon's best deals and the prices match those in Kansas!

here is the link

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent.aspx?id=99800

walmart has great free samples this is actually where I started getting any free samples Mom is the Post Master in Fowler and a lady kept getting stuff from Walmart and she asked how. So the rest is history.

Just an FYI for new freebie seekers. They DO run out. Don't complain there will be more hopefully you will get them. I see so many distasteful comments on facebook (the company's sites) when people don't get them and it's like sheesh they don't have to give you anything!

today's freebie

In my happy mailbox today was a HUGE W magazine I mean it has over 400 pages. To me though W spells waste of time. I have learned since starting to do freebies just because it is free doesn't mean you have to have it. (especially when it comes to magazines because I am always getting them free. Like today there is a freebie for 8 free issues of Working Mom magazine doesn't interest me because I am able to stay home so I will pass it up, also this week I passed up on Field and Stream and some other outdoors living thing. NOT my thing. Anyways if any working moms or just moms want this magazine here is the link

https://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/freeoffer.asp?offer=WorkingMother-RDC

how to get freebies fast

" The recession won't be over till we raise a generation that knows how to live on what they got"

I got this quote off of one of the blogs I follow money saving mom. Think it's perfect except we spent more than we got with buying our house. Some people call that "good debt" but all debt gets me pretty down in the dumps.

Anyways freebie today was 2 free size four diapers from Costco... oh I was going to tell you guys if you start signing up for freebies make sure you have an auto fill saved on your computer. That way usually you just start typing your name and it comes up you hit the tab button and MOST or all of the form is filled out. I can fill most out in less than 5-10 seconds.

oops there was good stuff

this happens often I get things in the mail and don't consider them good stuff! lol today Kjell got his SKI magazine that we get free for the rest of this year. Not sure what company provided us that. And I got $10 off any $25 purchase at JCPenny. I just got their Credit Card when we moved into our house and this is the third $10 they sent. I have only used it to buy curtains. I just treat it as a payment so I make sure to PAY OFF IN FULL at the end of each month. :)

Another money saving tip

Ok I just titled this something that is impossible because it is my first money saving tip but we will just look past that and move on. My readership is up my a whopping 0% so that's good. :) Oh well maybe readership will pick up or maybe I'm destined to talk to myself only out on the world wide web.

Anyone who knows me knows I try to make my dollar stretch. I love numbers always have and my goal each month is to make sure we spend less than we earn (what a concept huh government??) NEWAYS! When we lived in Spring Hill Kjell got a speeding ticket so he got a job at Sonic to pay it off. He started coming home with lots of cash from tips and thus was born the envelop system (not to confused with the other envelop system that also requires... envelops.) These envelops all have a category Car insurance, car tags, Christmas, one for each kid for college, house insurance, house taxes, home repairs, new car fund (wish this one grew faster) oh and FUN which the purpose of this money changes every time we hit 100 bucks. With all my survey money they go in the envelops in 10 dollar pay outs, when we have more money at the end of the month after all the bills are paid, our tithe has been taken out also the monthly amount that is taken out for house taxes, car and house ins (more on that another day) if there is money left over we divide that by three 1/3 goes to paying off the house 1/3 goes towards a new car and 1/3 goes towards the envelops. They used to get money put into them faster but this is just an example, you could have any different category you want just make sure you have a bit of record keeping on this because obviously you don't want to keep all that money in the house and end up taking it to the bank at times I just put it into savings and then just have track of how much is in each "envelop" on the envelop. This is perfect for when say our car tags are due and we owe 260 bucks but with the envelop system I've saved 220 for it this year which means the only added expense this month is 40 dollars.

If you have any questions just let me know. It made sense to me but I've done it for 7 years.

wwooo hoooo!

My mail wasn't all up when we left town today but did have a nice coupon from Victoria's secret. Not sure how I got on their mailing list. It is for a free pair of panties! I got one last month too. These are the best if you don't want to shop you just go in get them and hand the coupon to the cashier and you are done. Can't beat free!

trying something new

Ok well I'm not going to promise anything but I would like to help some of my friends figure out ways to earn some extra cash and maybe even have some fun freebies show up in the mail. Instead of me researching what is out there and telling you when they are available I'm going to try to let you know about all the goodies I get in my mailbox each day and tell you where you may be able to get some fun stuff too.

Yesterday's mail included two $25.00 Spa Finder gift certificates I received these as a prize from a survey company my history with this company is-this company deals in points I have had a lifelong point total of almost 35,000 points with those points I have bought 2 phones with an answering machine attached, and an advanced weather system clock. Right now I have about 10,000 of those 35,000 points left to spend on something their prize catalog is HUGE everyone should be able to find something. I have been with this company since 2005. So obviously the money is not made quickly. I would say I get about 2 or 3 survey opportunities each week, if you don't win they give you a token for the game they have and you always win, usually 25 points. If you want more information on this company let me know and I will get you referred for opportunity number 1. I have deleted a lot of the survey companies I have had in the past because I didn't think I made money fast enough the only reason here is that they don't give you millions of opportunities (2 to 3 surveys a week is not much) but that means they aren't pesky and filling your in box all the time.

Today I got a check for $20 from another company. I can't tell how long I have been with them it looks like since 2008 since that time I have made $132.00 this company sends a lot more surveys but it's all cash which I think are the best kind. My last check came Aug 1st so sometimes you can make money pretty fast if you qualify. If you do not qualify for a survey you can try to "win" points I've won once since 2008 or they will donate to the Red Cross I think it's 5 or 10 cents. Ask about this one it is opportunity number 2 if I refer you (or you later refer others) you get $1. Kind of nice

Also in my mail today was a bag clip and a coupon for a free bag of Fresh Express Bagged Salad plus 3 $1.00 coupons for my friends (friends I need to remember to pass these out when I have them!!!) This is from a very fun company called Vocal Point. (go to vocalpoint.com) It is more of a "mom site" but they always have new products that companies want to get out there and talked about. They are always free but you have to make sure you are quick to sign up when they have giveaways because they are very popular. Probably in the last 30 days I've gotten a glad trash bag and a Mott's juice box for the kids. I don't always get this many but it's fun to have the cool packages come in the mail. The trash bag came in a cardboard trash can!

My last fun freebie today was from Target 2 size 4 huggies diapers plus $1.50 off coupon. I find out about these freebies on sites such as www.freebies4mom.com. I have my google reader programed for these sites and I try to get on once or twice a day to pick up on some freebies.

Now I do dedicate about an hour a day to this. Somedays I don't do anything but other days I do. I love football season because I can go all week without doing my emails and do them all while watching football. If you want to start dappling though this is a good start!

Any feedback would be great!